OIF plans to create conflict prevention mechanism

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The secretary general of the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF), Abdou Diouf, has indicated in Bamako that his institution plans to organise in May 2006 at Saint- Boniface, Canada a ministerial conference for the creation ofa conflict- prevention mechanism.
"We should, while fully utilising the mechanism offered by the Bamako Declaration, take into consideration new concepts like the responsibility to protect, already underscored by the Ouagadougou Declaration, where the chairperson of the African Union Commission highlighted the principle of non-interference," Diouf affirmed in Bamako Sunday.
Addressing the opening of the International Symposium on the practices of democracy, rights and freedom in the Francophonie space, the former Senegalese president also announced the impending creation of a group of experts charged with issuing early warnings in crisis situation.
"We need to expand or concepts to other fields.
The Francophonie needs to contribute to the ongoing discussion within the United Nations on the concept of conflict prevention and human or collective security," he told delegates attending the three-day symposium.
"After 0ur organs endorsed the principle, we have started preparing a ministerial conference on these complex issues which will take place in May 2006 in Canada," Diouf explained, as he assessed the performance of the Bamako Declaration adopted five years ago.
"At the same time we must highlight and initiate specific actions of the Francophonie in the field of peace, democracy and human rights and specify the contribution of the Francophonie towards the efforts being made by other international bodies in this field," Abdou Diouf added.
Meanwhile, he called on the OIF to be more involved in the defence human rights especially by creating a working and information exchange group on the reform of the United Nations Human Rights Consultative Commission.
"I wish to confirm here that the Francophonie will actively support the creation of the United Nations Human Rights Consultative Commission and I warmly welcome the initiative launched by Switzerland to rapidly organise a working group on this topic," the OIF secretary general indicated.
According to Diouf, the Francophonie as an institution has today attained "thanks partly to the Bamako Declaration, a ceiling of political maturity that enables it to present itself as a full actor in international relations.
" "Your conclusions and suggestions should enable us to implement under the best conditions the main decisions that our heads of state and government requested and which will be submitted to our ministers.
This work will continue after the symposium," Abdou Diouf added.
"I will submit a report on this progress to our heads of state and government during the summit in Bucharest next September so that they could take the appropriate decisions to enhance the efficiency of our Bamako Declaration and give it its full magnitude," he concluded.